Background

Born in northern central Argentina, in Santa Fe Province, Alario made his professional debut in mid-2011 for Colón de Santa Fe, where he remained for four years, first as a substitute and later as a more regular starter.

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Away from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and enduring one term in the second tier in 2014, Alario flew under the radar, but his six goals in fifteen matches and link-up play with team-mates were crucial to the team regaining their Primera spot with a first-place finish in their second division group.

When Buenos Aires giants River Plate showed an interest in the middle of 2015, looking to strengthen their team ahead of the Copa Libertadores semi-finals, many fans – presumably having not seen his intelligent centre-forward play in a more limited team – were nonplussed.

Alario rapidly won them round with a series of impressive performances, playing a part in both goals in his first start against Guaraní of Paraguay in the semi-finals, and scoring his first goal in the second leg of the same tie.

Top level: Alario closes down Sergio Busquets in the Club World Cup Final (Image: Mike Hewitt - FIFA)

Even better was to come, as he sparked wild celebrations two weeks later when he opened the scoring in the final against Tigres of Mexico on the stroke of half-time in the second leg. To date, he’s scored 12 goals in 24 appearances for River, including some of the most important ones in the club’s history.

Although lacking a European passport or international appearances for Argentina, his importance to River’s third Libertadores win (added to by another vital goal, the winner in December’s Club World Cup semi-final against Sanfrecce Hiroshima) should help to ease his work permit application.

Strengths/He’s the new…

Having been largely out of the media spotlight until his move to River, Alario has avoided comparisons with former greats of the Argentine game.

But with his intelligent movement, good reading of the game and knack for crucial goals he’s often reminded this observer of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (apologies Liverpool fans).

He’s not only an expert poacher, though; as well as those 12 goals for River, he’s also weighed in with five assists, and has always proved willing and able to find a teammate when unable to do things on his own.

Alario only has one hat-trick to his name, but a look at those goals, against Nueva Chicago in the Primera last September, is a fine potted summary of his quickness of thought and feet, his opportunism and range of finishing.

Weaknesses

As a centre forward, Alario’s main weakness is that by the standards of England’s Premier League, he would be comparatively slight; at 5’10” he’s not a stereotypical tiny Argentine forward by any means, but nor is he likely to physically dominate opposing centre backs.

Some period of adaptation is inevitable, and he’ll need to maintain his confidence in his own ability if he doesn’t hit the ground running right away.

How well would he fit into Liverpool’s team?

Given the amount of rebuilding Klopp is expected to embark on this summer, it’s very hard to say, but the explosion in his goalscoring exploits when he moved from Colón to a more attacking River team suggests he’s a centre forward who could work well under Klopp.

Partnership: Alario would work as a good foil for Sturridge's pace (Image: Reuters / Stefan Wermuth)

Ownership issues

River Plate own just 30 per cent of the 23-year-old’s economic rights currently, but already have a deal in place to buy another 30 per cent of the player for £950,000 in May. The rest of the player is controlled by an investment group linked to Alario's former club, who are holding out for nearly £4million for the remaining percentage in the player.

River believe that they aren't far off a deal for the remaining 40 per cent, but news of Liverpool's interest is pushing up the price as executives of the Argentine club try to close out an agreement.

With the Premier League rules banning third-party ownership of players, Liverpool will need to buy out both River and the investment group.

Interest from Jorge Mendes’ agency, Gestifute, in buying a percentage of the player, has forced Liverpool into action.

Did you know?

Alario was born in the north of Santa Fe Province, but grew up in a tiny village of just a couple of hundred people in neighbouring Santiago del Estero; his parents had to travel 50 kilometres to the nearest hospital when he was born.

As a child the modern-day River favourite was a Boca Juniors fan, and he frequently played football barefoot, only joining the youth ranks of a professional club (Colón) at the age of 16.